


that Christmas when Liam became an Express Delivery boy

by demi_god



Series: the demigod series [4]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Christmas, Demigods, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-19
Updated: 2021-02-19
Packaged: 2021-03-14 22:07:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,036
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29549076
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/demi_god/pseuds/demi_god
Summary: Stiles studies the box. It's poorly-wrapped with a nondescript little red bow on top. His eyes squint at Liam, questioning. "You're a delivery express now? Last I knew, you were Hades' spawn, not Hermes'."
Relationships: Theo Raeken/Stiles Stilinski
Series: the demigod series [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2155698
Kudos: 17





	that Christmas when Liam became an Express Delivery boy

**Author's Note:**

> This was written in celebration of Christmas 2020. Here's the [link](https://voidstilesplease.tumblr.com/post/638449334409707520/a-steo-demigod-christmas-au-ficlet-in) to the original post.

\---

In the middle of Christmas dinner, Liam appears in the Stilinski household. Stiles jumps off his chair, reaching in his pocket for his dagger, and his dad almost drops the tray he’s carrying on his way back from the kitchen.

“ _Jesus_ -” his father pauses, wide-eyed at the newcomer. Recognition crosses his features; having met and known of Liam’s abilities, his stance relaxes. “Liam.”

Liam smiles sheepishly up at Stiles’s dad, rubbing the back of his neck. “Hello, Mr. Stilinski. Merry Christmas,” he greets before he turns to Stiles, who’s still startled by his sudden appearance in the middle of their dining room. “Hi, Stiles.”

Stiles recovers, closing his mouth. “Liam, what-” he points in the boy’s direction, other hand settling on his sweater-clothed hip. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m on a paid excursion,” he announces, bringing up a small box with irregular wrappings.

From the kitchen, Heather, Stiles’s childhood friend who came to visit for Christmas, calls out, “Noah, do I bring out the entire basket of pies?”

Liam’s eyes widen a fraction, as does Stiles’s. Stiles meets his dad’s eyes, gesturing wildly for the two demigods to go upstairs for their business.

Stiles grabs Liam’s hand as Heather’s footsteps get closer. They trudge the stairs in less than ten seconds and reach his room in time when Heather’s voice asks, “Where’s Stiles?” His dad makes up an excuse about Stiles retrieving something in his room and that he will be back shortly as Stiles closes his bedroom door.

Liam looks apologetic when he states, “Sorry, I didn’t know you had a visitor.”

Stiles purses his lips and reprimands without heat, “That’s what Iris-messages are for, you know?” Liam ducks his head, and Stiles drops the topic with a shake of his head. He arches his eyebrows, “So, what brings you here?”

Liam hands Stiles the small box, “I’m only here to give you this.”

Stiles studies the box. It’s poorly-wrapped with a nondescript little red bow on top. His eyes squint at Liam, questioning. “You’re a delivery express now? Last I knew, you were Hades’ spawn, not Hermes’.”

Liam shrugs, “Yeah, well, the entire Hermes, Apollo, and Ares year-rounders are grounded at camp for the Holidays, so.”

Stiles’s eyebrows shot up high this time, “What did they do this time?”

“Something about Apollo’s sun chariot,” Liam’s eyes glaze over a bit, and he has a grimace on his face. “Apollo lost a bet against Ares to drive the sun chariot. Theo was about to take it for a ride -possibly to deliver this gift to you himself. But then Hermes stole the chariot -you know, for _fun_ \- Ares went ballistic thinking Apollo cheated, Apollo was offended and knew it had to be Hermes’ doing. And all Hades broke loose basically,” he smirks, “and I wasn’t even behind it.”

Stiles heaves a resigned sigh, slanting his head. “Sounds like Hermes, Apollo, and Ares.”

Liam laughs, “It’s relieving to know some things don’t change,”

It is. After the summer they had, with the camp almost going against each other, chaos like this brings lightness to Stiles’s chest. They are standing up again, rebuilding the rift between them, establishing normalcy.

“So,” Liam nods to the box. “If I wasn’t clear, the gift is from your boyfriend.”

Stiles stammers, feeling his cheeks heating up. “Theo’s not my boyfriend,”

Liam smirks, waving his hand dismissively. “Yeah, yeah. You’ll probably be the last to know that you’re dating,” Stiles opens his mouth to deny some more, but Liam beats him to it. “Anyway, that’s why I’m here. I should get my ass back to camp before some monster detects the presence of more than one demigod, or worse, Mr. D finds out I’m shadow-traveling for illicit affairs.” He opens the door behind him. “Also, tell your dad I’m sorry for popping up out of nowhere.” And in a minute, Liam’s gone through the shadows back to Camp Half-Blood.

Stiles looks at Liam’s empty space before transferring his gaze down to the present in his hand. He wonders if he’s been gone too long and Heather is starting to get suspicious of his absence, but he starts opening the gift anyway, curiosity winning.

When he sees what’s inside, his mouth drops. It’s a necklace. Not only that, the pendant is the shape of the letter ’S’ made of gold and emblazoned with three small blue crystals. Stiles recognizes them as the gemstone Theo found in his pockets when he arrived back to the camp after being marooned for over a month in Ogygia. Theo suspected it was Calypso’s doing as a reminder that he had once been to the mystical island.

He is almost afraid to touch it, but Stiles brings it close to admire the handiwork. Theo must have asked someone from Hephaestus to help with it because the intricacies can only be carved by their skillful hands.

His heart races all of a sudden, registering the fact that this beautiful jewelry is for him. He blows a big puff of air, in utter disbelief. Why would Theo give him such a gift? 

Stiles remembers Haley asking Theo for one of the crystals for scholarly purposes since it’s a very rare azurite stone coming straight from a legendary unplottable island. The power even one of these must contain would be mind-blowing. But he had refused.

Now, Stiles has all three. Theo gives up his powerful stones as a Christmas present to Stiles. Different feelings are clashing together: confusion, astonishment, excitement, skepticism, deep flattery. He even thinks of how he and the Athena cabin can spend next summer poring over the gemstone that, up until this point, remained elusive to their academic pursuits.

When Stiles turns the pendant, he finds engravings on the other side, and his breath stutters.

_“The gods send Calypso heroes to tend that she can’t help falling in love within a brief time. But the same ones that cannot accept her offer of companionship because their hearts are bound to others - always the heroes that are already deep in love.”_

_“So these heroes can only leave if they’re in love?”_

_“Yes, Theo, that’s what I just said.”_

The carvings spell out: _**for bringing me back from Ogygia**_

~•~


End file.
